Almanac Music: ‘Kiss Me’ – Songs Involving Kissing
The Kiss, by Gustav Klimt, oil on canvas, 1907-8. Belvedere Museum, Vienna, Austria. [Wikimedia Commons.]
Almanac Music: ‘Kiss Me’ – Songs Involving Kissing
Hi, Almanackers! This piece in my long-running series about key popular song themes concerns songs involving kissing. By this, I mean songs involving words like kiss, kissing, smooch, peck and closely related words which mean basically the same thing.
So, dear readers, please put your relevant ‘kissing’ songs in the ‘Comments’ section. Below, as usual, are some examples from me to get the ball rolling.
‘Besame Mucho’ (translation: ‘Kiss me a lot’), written by Consuelo Velázquez and Sunny Skylar, performed by The Beatles (Jan 1, 1962 Decca audition version with Pete Best on drums is featured here)
‘All I’ve Got to Do’, written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, performed by The Beatles (1963)
‘And when I, I wanna kiss you, yeah’
‘Fire’, written by Bruce Springsteen, performed by The Pointer Sisters (1978)
‘when we kiss – ooh, fire!’
‘Oh England My Lionheart’, written and performed by Kate Bush (1978)
‘Give me one kiss in appleblossom’
‘It Started with a Kiss’ written by Errol Brown, performed by Hot Chocolate (1982)
‘Kiss’, written by Prince, performed by Prince and the Revolution (1986)
‘Pash’, written by Kate Ceberano and Mark Goldenberg, performed by Kate Ceberano (1997)
‘Kiss Me’, written by Matt Slocum, performed by Sixpence None the Richer (1998)
‘This Kiss’, written by Beth Nielsen Chapman, Robin Lerner and Annie Roboff, performed by Faith Hill (1998)
…………………………………………………………………
Now, dear readers / listeners – it’s over to you. Your responses to this topic are warmly welcomed. In the ‘Comments’ section, please add your own choice of a song (or songs) involving kissing, along with any other relevant material you wish to include.
[Note: as usual, Wikipedia has been a good general reference for this piece, particularly in terms of checking dates and other details.]
Read more from Kevin Densley HERE
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About
Kevin Densley is a graduate of both Deakin University and The University of Melbourne. He has taught writing and literature in numerous Victorian universities and TAFES. He is a poet and writer-in-general. His sixth book-length poetry collection, Isle Full of Noises, was published in early 2026 by Ginninderra Press. He is also the co-author of ten play collections for young people, as well as a multi Green Room Award nominated play, Last Chance Gas, published by Currency Press. Other writing includes screenplays for educational films.
Walk my way: Australian Crawl
I’d do it: Australian Crawl
All my loving: Beatles
From me to you: Beatles
I should have known better: Beatles
Turn your back on love: Crosby Stills and Nash
Where love hides: Belinda Carlisle
I get weak: Belinda Carlisle
Yours truly 2095: Electric Light Orchestra
Kiss me red: Cheap Trick
The way we are: Fleming and John
Ssh!: Fleming and John
One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Faces: Ben Folds Five
No time: Mondo Rock
Baby wants to rock: Mondo Rock
A touch of paradise: Mondo Rock (covered by John Farnham)
Oh oh Kimberley: James Reyne
Kathy’s song: Simon and Garfunkel
Goodbye Elenore: Toto
Life during wartime (live): Talking Heads
A Kiss to Build a dream On – Tony Bennett
Kissing Cousins – Elvis Presley
I’ve barely scratched the surface here KD
Bachelor Kisses – Go-Betweens
Radio Ass Kiss – Wonderstuff
Looking For A Kiss – New York Dolls
Missin’ Your Kissin’ – The Sports
Strawberry Kisses – Nikki Webster
Kiss On My List – Hall & Oates
Lipstick On Your Collar – The Saints et al
Kiss Off – Violent Femmes
Kissin’ ‘Round Corners – Models
I Saw Mommy Kissin’ Santa Claus – various
Perfect Kiss – New Order
Kiss Me Deadly – Generation X
Kissin’ Cousins – Elvis et al
I’m Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter (With lots of kisses on the bottom) – Billy Williams
Kisses of Fire – ABBA
When I Kissed the Teacher – ABBA
Hey KD, tell Swish I had already mentioned Kissing Cousins
No need to tell me Fisho, I was typing up my list elsewhere and pasted it in without looking at yours. Sheesh.
Also
Heroes – David Bowie
I, I can remember
(I remember)
Standing by the wall
(By the wall)
And the guns, shot above our heads
(Over our heads)
And we kissed, as though nothing could fall
(Nothing could fall)
No Action – Elvis Costello & the Attractions
I don’t wanna kiss you I don’t wanna touch
I don’t wanna see you ’cause I don’t miss you that much
Here’s 3 from Nancy Sinatra
Let me Kiss You
Like I Do (She may kiss you like i do)
There’s a Party Going On (Two lips that long to kiss him)
Hey Fisho, tell him yerself ?
Born to Run, Bruce
Here’s 4 from Cliff Richard
Kiss
Sealed With a Kiss
Butterfly Kisses
We Kiss in the Shadows
Yes Tonight Josephine (Pack each kiss with dynamite) – Johnny Ray
Kisses Sweeter Than Wine – Jimmie Rogers
The Infant Kiss – Kate Bush
Here’s 4 from Conway Twitty
Kiss an Angel Good Morning
The Last Kiss
A Huggin’ and a Kissin’
I Need Your Loving Kiss
And here’s 3 from Roy Orbison
I’ll Never Tell (Kiss me and I’ll never tell a soul you did)
Seventeen Little Kisses
I Drove All Night (Could taste your sweet kisses, your arms open wide)
Thank you, Liam, for your splendid opening foray in relation to this kissing theme. To select just one artist and song for comment – ‘No Time’ reminds me that Mondo Rock certainly came up with a number of fine songs, didn’t they? And Ross Wilson, across his whole career, has to be considered one of the top few Australian popular music people.
This will be a long list, KD. The Guardian’s Alexis Petridis is among my favourite (music) writers, and he once described the opening to Gimme Shelter and particularly Keith’s guitar as being characterised by ‘apocalyptic dread.’ The outchorus finishes with
I tell you love, sister
It’s just a kiss away.
Great, energetic work, as a co-opener, Fisho. Interesting that ‘Kisses of Fire’ is one of the first songs I think of when songs involving kissing come into my head.
“Last Kiss” by Pearl Jam,
“Let’s Kiss” by The Models,
Pogues:
‘Fairytale of New York’ “we kissed on the corner and danced through the night”
‘Sally Maclennane’ “we kissed him as we put him on the train”
‘Dirty old town’ “I kissed my girl, by the factory wall”
Thanks, Rick, for ‘Born to Run’ – a big, bold start from you in terms of this new theme!
Thanks, Swish, for your fine batch of selections – you’ve definitely ‘scratched the surface’ in a highly effective manner. One thing you have reminded me of is how much the seventies and eighties were a golden era for Oz music. For example The Sports and Stephen Cummings as a solo artist had some great songs around that time – perhaps the strength of their contribution to the music scene has been forgotten to some degree.
I agree, Mickey – this kissing theme seems likely to result in a long songlist. Thanks for the Stones selection, too. And for putting forward the expression ‘apocalyptic dread’, which certainly brings a frisson to this discussion thread.
Thanks for your quintet of choices, Smokie.
I love ‘Dirty Old Town’, to select just one as an example.
Lenny Cohen:
Dance Me to the End of Love (Dance me to the children who are asking to be born/ Dance me through the curtains that our kisses have outworn/Raise a tent of shelter now, though every thread is torn/Dance me to the end of love)
A Thousand Kisses Deep (And sometimes when the night is slow/The wretched and the meek/We gather up our hearts and go/A thousand kisses deep/ Confined to sex, we pressed against/The limits of the sea/I saw there were no oceans left/For scavengers like me/I made it to the forward deck/I blessed our remnant fleet/ And then consented to be wrecked/A thousand kisses deep)
Closing Time (I swear it happened just like this:/A sigh, a cry, a hungry kiss/It’s closing time/The Gates of Love they budged an inch/I can’t say much has happened since/But closing time/ I loved you when our love was blessed/I love you now there’s nothing left/ But closing time/I miss you since the place got wrecked/By the winds of change and the weeds of sex/It’s closing time)
Alexandra Leaving (Even though she sleeps upon your satin/Even though she wakes you with a kiss/Do not say the moment was imagined/Do not stoop to strategies like this/ As someone long prepared for this to happen/Go firmly to the window, drink it in/Exquisite music, Alexandra laughing/Your first commitments tangible again)
Hey, That’s No Way to Say Goodbye (I loved you in the morning, our kisses deep and warm/Your hair upon the pillow like a sleepy golden storm/Yes, many loved before us, I know that we are not new/In city and in forest they smiled like me and you/But now it’s come to distances and both of us must try/Your eyes are soft with sorrow, hey, that’s no way to say goodbye)
Fine quintet of Lenny Cohen songs, Rick. Love the lengthy quotations, too – they add depth and breadth.
Boo Boo Kiss – Hunters and Collectors
The Slab – Hunters and Collectors (about a different type of kissing)
Like Wow Wipeout – Hoodoo Gurus
Bittersweet – Hoodoo Gurus
Right Here – Go-Betweens
Part Company – Go-Betweens
The Wrong Road – Go-Betweens
When Doves Cry – Prince
Tank Park Salute – Billy Bragg
A Lover Sings – Billy Bragg
Moving The Goalposts – Billy Bragg
Purple Haze – Jimi Hendrix
Excellent selections, as usual, Swish, in terms of your most recent batch.
To pick just one to elaborate upon: I think ‘Bittersweet’ would make it into my all-time top 20 Australasian songs.
Ricochet (If you’re careless with your kisses, find another turtle dove) – Teresa Brewer
The Roving Kind (I kissed her lips, I missed her lips and found to my surprise, she was nothing but a pirate ship, rigged up in a disguise) – Guy Mitchell
Here’s 5 from Brenda Lee
Wishin’ and Hopin’ (All you gotta do is hold him and kiss him and love him)
Kiss Away
Send Me Some Lovin’ (You can send me your kisses how to feel them at home)
I’ll always be in Love With You (And though you’ll find such bliss in someone else’s kiss)
I Want to be Wanted (When I am kissed, I want his lips to really kiss me)
And then there’s these 5 from Frank Sinatra
And Then You Kissed Me
Kisses and Tears
I Wonder who’s Kissing Her Now
We’re Just a Kiss Apart
We Kiss In a Shadow
Where Is Your Heart (The Song from Moulin Rouge) (Whenever we kiss I worry and wonder) – Percy Faith Orchestra.
Kissin’ On the Phone – Paul Anka
Eso Beso (That Kiss) – Paul Anka
Lucinda Williams:
Passionate Kisses (Is it much to demand?/I want a full house and a rock and roll band/
Pens that won’t run out of ink/And cool quiet and time to think/Shouldn’t I have this?/Shouldn’t I have this?/Shouldn’t I have all of this and/Passionate kisses/Passionate kisses (Whoa)/Passionate kisses from you?)
Drunken Angel (Feed you and pay off all your debts/Kiss your brow taste your sweat/Write about your soul your guts/Criticize you and wish you luck/Drunken angel)
Essence (Baby, sweet baby, whisper my name/Shoot your love into my vein/Baby, sweet baby, kiss me hard/Make me wonder who’s in charge)
Are You Alright (Are you sleeping through the night?/Do you have someone to hold you tight?/Do you have someone to hang out with?/Do you have someone to hug and kiss you?/Hug and kiss you/Hug and kiss you/Are you all right?)
House of Earth, which engages Woody Guthrie’s novel, he is credited as co-writer (I kiss you in such odd unnatural ways/Your wife will then find out that kissing pays/ I’ll furnish red hot kisses and the hole/That wakes up sleeping sickness in your soul)
Here’s five from Peggy Lee
Fever (when you kiss me, when you hold me tight)
I threw a Kiss in the Ocean
Ooh That Kiss
How Long Has this been Going On? (Kiss me once, then once more)
It’s Been a Long Long Time (Kiss me Once, then kiss me twice)
Here’s a couple more:
Dream a little dream of me (I’m familiar with the version by the Mamas and the Papas)
A taste of honey (I’m familiar with the version by the Beatles).
One Of Those Days (You’re at a drive in movie with a cute brunette, counting on the kisses that you figure you’ll get. Closer, Closer then she hollers whoa. Did you ever get one of those girls who had to watch the show) – Elvis Presley and one of my favourite Elvis songs.
Kiss Me Now (We’ll get acquainted later) – Steve Lawrence
Walk Your Kisses – Billy Crash Craddock
Sealed With a Kiss – Bobby Vee
Oh Boy (All my love, all my kissin’) – Buddy Holly
If Wishes were Kisses – Perry Como
Kiss me and Kiss Me and Kiss Me – Perry Como
Kiss The Dirt (Falling Down the Mountain) – INXS
XTreme Sports Can Kiss My Arse – TISM
Lonely Boy (Someone, yes someone to love, someone to kiss) – Paul Anka
I’m Gonna Knock on your Door (Hey little girl, this ain’t no time to sleep. Lets count kisses instead of sheep) – Eddie Hodges
Sister Mary Elephant – Cheech and Chong
The Killing Moon – Echo & the Bunnymen
Lips Like Sugar – Echo & the Bunnymen
Sealed With A Glasgow Kiss – Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine
Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye – Steam
Throw Your Arms Around Me – Hunters and Collectors
Kissin’ In The Back Row – The Drifters
Let’s Just Kiss And Say Goodbye – Barry White
Oh Oh I Love Her So – Ramones
Baby I Love You – Ronettes
The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face – Ewan MacColl – Written about Peggy Seeger and turned into a huge hit by Roberta Flack.
Kiss and Say Goodbye – Kate and Anna McGarrigle
“I do believe the die is cast
Let’s try and make the night-time last
And I don’t know where it’s coming from
But I want to kiss you till my mouth get numb
I want to make love to you
Till the day comes breaking through
And when the sun is high in the sky
We’ll kiss and say goodbye”
Casey’s Last Ride – Kris Kristofferson
“Oh, ” she said, “Casey, it’s been so long since I’ve seen you”
“Here, ” she said, “Just a kiss to make a body smile”
“See, ” she said, “I’ve put on new stockings just to please you”
“Lord, ” she said, “Casey, can you only stay a while?”
Running Bear (In the moonlight he could see her throwing kisses across the waves) – Johnny Preston
Many thanks for your most recent sets of choices, Fisho; as usual, some all-time great singers, like Sinatra, Perry Como and Elvis – as well as some fine artists more generally, including Buddy Holly, Brenda Lee, Peggy Lee, Paul Anka and the like.
Great work, today, mate!
Thank you for the Lucinda Williams quintet of choices, Rick. She always holds an esteemed place in these themed lists of ours.
Feels So Fine (Come a let me hug ya, come a let me kiss ya) – Johnny Preston.
Thanks, Liam, for your latest two – a couple of excellent ballads there. I feel ‘A Taste of Honey’, like ‘Besame Mucho’ in my introduction, is part of McCartney early ‘apprenticeship work’ in preparation for his own later self-penned classics, like ‘And I Love Her’, ‘Michelle’, ‘Yesterday’,’Here, There and Everywhere’ and ‘She’s Leaving Home’.
Thank you, Luke, for your two choices by bands with acronymic names – neat work there!
Many thanks, Swish, for your latest lot, including the sublime ‘Throw Your Arms Around Me’, which is close to my all-time favourite Australasian song of the rock’n’roll era.
Thanks, Dave N, for your introductory foray into kissing territory. What a superb start, too, with ‘The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face’ kicking off proceedings; like many, I suppose, I first came to this song via the Roberta Flack version.
I’m Counting On You (I’m counting on your kisses and caresses) – Johnny O’Keefe
Right Now (kiss me strong it’s so wrong) – Johnny O’Keefe
Bye Bye Baby (Just a little kiss and I’ll be on my way) – Col Joye
We’re All Gonna Die Someday, Kasey Chambers (Well, they can all kiss my ass, Lord/They can all kiss my ass/If they want to kiss my ass well they better do it fast/’Cause we’re all gonna die someday)
Follow Your Arrow, Kacey Musgraves (Make lots of noise/Kiss lots of boys/Or kiss lots of girls/If that’s something you’re into/When the straight and narrow/Gets a little too straight/Roll up a joint, or don’t/Just follow your arrow/Wherever it points, yeah)
Do You Wanna Go Party, KC & the Sunshine Band (Come on baby, sexy lady/Let yourself unwind/I wanna love you/Kiss and hug you/Make it last all night) but forget the lyrics and just dance!
Buried Alive and another song from the same album, Kiss Me, I’m Shitfaced, Dropkick Murphys – sorry Smoke, had to get another Casey in this list. Second song is a St Pats and crowd fave.
Hot Kiss – Suzi Quatro
Kiss Me Goodbye – Suzi Quatro
Kiss ‘n Coo – Glen Campbell
I Love How You Love Me (I love how you kiss me) – Glen Campbell
‘And then he kissed me’, The Crystals
Covered by the Hard Ons in 1986 as ‘And then I kissed her’, when they played this at the Sylvania Hotel I grabbed Wendy and kissed her, she was my first real love.
Pucker’s Daughter by Mossy. Shoop shoop!
Guess Who I Saw in Paris – Buffy Sainte Marie
“Guess who fell asleep on his arm?
Guess who got lost in his eyes?
Guess who kissed him goodnight?
Guess who phoned me up this morning while I was still asleep?
Not like waking up at all”
(I usually reference Buffy’s political songs but she wrote some fine love songs as well.)
Here’s another Lucinda song to add to Rick’s list
Still I Long for Your Kiss – Lucinda Williams
“I know I shouldn’t but I want you so bad
I know it couldn’t be but I want what we had
I know our love is gone and I can’t bring it back
Still I long for your kiss
Still I long for your kiss
I know it’s over cause you told me so
I tried to leave but I can’t let you go
I can’t believe you don’t want me no more
Still I long for your kiss
Still I long for your kiss”
And also one to add to Rick”s Leonard list
Alexandra Leaving – Leonard Cohen and Sharon Robinson
“It’s not a trick, your senses all deceiving
A fitful dream, the morning will exhaust
Say goodbye to Alexandra leaving
Then say goodbye to Alexandra lost
Even though she sleeps upon your satin
Even though she wakes you with a kiss
Do not say the moment was imagined
Do not stoop to strategies like this”
Beyond the Sea (We’ll kiss just as before) – Bobby Darin
last Kiss – Bobby Darin
As Time Goes By (A kiss is still a kiss) – Neil Diamond
The Look of Love (And then seal it with a kiss) – Neil Diamond
Whoops I didn’t look at your post closely enough, Rick. I notice that you had referenced Alexandra Leaving. Sorry. On the other hand it is such beautiful song it deserves to be mentioned twice.
Kissin’ the wind: Michala Banas
Lies and kisses: members of Australian Crawl (without James Reyne)
Butterfly (I knew from the first time I kissed you that you were the troublin’ kind) – Andy Williams
Seven Little Girls Sitting On the Back Seat ( Seven little girls sitting on the back seat huggin and a’kissing with Fred) – Paul Evans
Wonderful effort on Day 1 of this new ‘kissing’ theme, Fisho. Many thanks for your most recent inclusions, beginning with ‘Feels So FIne’ by Johnny Preston. One of the numerous things I like about your song choices is the picture you give Almanac readers of your personal (mainly in vinyl form, I presume) song collection.
Thanks, Rick, for your bunch of ‘KC’ songs – one of the most novel ways I’ve seen vis-a-vis bringing together a bunch of theme-connected song choices, incidentally!
Thanks, Earl, for ‘And Then He Kissed Me’ and the touching personal anecdote – I think we all have our ‘young love’ kissing stories.
Pucker’s Daughter by Mossy, eh Matt? Très amusant! Merci.
Thanks for your Buffy and Lucinda songs, Dave. Fine material!
Thanks for your latest two, Liam: ‘Kissin; the Wind’ and ‘Lies and Kisses’.
You’re so strong: Mental as anything.
This list would be incomplete without the Katy Perry hit “I kissed a girl” (as much as I can’t stand that song!).
Do Wah Diddy Diddy (We walked to my door and then we kissed a little more) – Manfred Mann
Boom Boom Baby (I gotta girl so fine. Lets me hug and kiss her all the time) – Billy Crash Craddock
You Don’t Know Me (Oh you don’t know the one who thinks of you at night. Who longs to kiss your lips and yearns to squeeze you tight) – Jerry Vale
Little Sister (Little sister don’t you kiss me once or twice and say it’s very nice and then you run) – Elvis Presley
Left Right out of Your Heart (I gave you all my kisses, surrendered all my charms) – Patti Page
Go, Jimmy, Go (I told her when it comes to kissing, I aint nothing but a kissing fool) – Jimmy Clanton
Silhouettes (kisses I could almost taste in the night) – The Rays
Jo-Ann (And all her kisses, they were gra-and Jo- Ann) – The Playmates
One Kiss Led To Another – The Coasters
Love Potion Number 9 (And drink it down, I started kissing everything in sight) – The Coasters
Here’s a few from Doris Day
Two hearts, Two Kisses
Kissing Rock (with Gordon MacRae)
A Little Kiss Goodnight
What’ja Put in that Kiss
Here’s 4 from Louis Prima and Keely Smith
That Old Black Magic (Aflame, burning desire that only your kiss, put out the fire)
Absent Minded Lover (No Kiss but your kiss make me feel that way)
Should I / I Can’t Believe That You’re in Love with Me (Your eyes so blue, your kisses too)
I Kiss Your Hand Madam
Whilst I’m on a roll, here’s 3 more
Born Too Late (I long to hold you and Kiss you) – The Pony Tails
A Kiss – Mario Lanza
That Midnight Kiss – Mario Lanza
Thanks, Liam, for your two most recent choices (including ‘I Kissed a Girl’).
Another busy day on the Almanac songlist from you, Fisho – wonderful material! Thanks so much for your fine efforts.
Chewy, Chewy (Ah, oh, I love to kiss her, love to hold her, Love to miss her) Ohio Express
Till I Kissed You – The Everly Brothers
What’s New Pussy Cat? (I’ll soon be kissing your sweet little Pussy Cat lips) – Tom Jones
Lucky Lips (Lucky lips are always kissing) – Cliff Richard
Three brilliant songs by Bruce and hoping the last song listed, by Jimmy Buffett, sneak through. Fingers crossed:
Candy’s Room
Rosalita
Streets of Philadelphia
Manana
They just keep on coming K D so here’s 4 from Eddie Fisher
When You Kiss A Stranger
Warm Kisses in the Cool of Night
Many Times (Many times I have wanted your kiss)
I’m Walking Behind You (Maybe I’ll kiss with a love that’s new. But I wish I was kissing you)
Bird Dog (Johnny kissed the teacher. He’s a bird) – Everly Brothers
Cathy’s Clown (Don’t want your love anymore. Don’t want your kisses, that’s for sure) – Everly Brothers
” Put your lips to mine, with your kiss of fire
just to be with you baby tonight is my one desire”.
From the Stray Cats song, My One Desire’, of their first album. It was written by Dorsey Burnette, but I’ve never heard his version; I should find it.
Glen!
,
“Kiss the Road of Raratonga”, the fantastic closing track on the first Finn Brothers album from 1995.
So glad the songs keep on coming, Fisho! Thanks for your latest contributions. Particular favourites of mine were the Everly Brothers numbers.
Here’s 3 from Nat King Cole
My Lips Remember Your Kisses
For Want of a Kiss
Moonlight Kisses
Thank you for your latest four, Rick. And yes, the pleasantly cruisy ‘Manana’ gets in – it contains an appropriate word, right near the end, that ensures it fits our theme.
Thanks to our ‘go-to Stray Cats man’, Glen, for ‘My One Desire’ – a fine bit of rockabilly, as one might expect.
I love the Finn Brothers’ work in general, and like ‘Kiss the Road of Raratonga’, too – thanks, Luke.
Thank you for your Nat King Cole trio, Fisho.
Some Paul Kelly songs
When I fFrst Met Your Ma.
“When I first met your ma
When I first kissed your mother
I was single once again
We walked through Fitzroy Gardens
There she took my hand
We could not stop our kissing
Then she whispered in my ear
‘Soon you’ll get to know me,
So let’s not go too far’
When I first kissed your ma
Love like a bird flies away
You’ll find out the only way”
The Oldest Story in the Book
“Enter Richard and his sister, June
Just before the season’s end
Richard’s guitar knows a whole lotta tunes
Harry starts a-picking on the mandolin
Down by the dam in the moonlight
When June kisses Tom, Harry doesn’t know where to look
The oldest story in the book”
Don’t Stand So Close to the Window
“Don’t stand so close to the window
Somebody out there might see
Then the word on the wire
Would be just like Ash Wednesday bushfire
Kiss me quick, kiss me warm
Put your dress on and hurry back home
Don’t stand so close to the window
Somebody out there might see
And you’re not supposed to be here with me”
Sweet Guy
“In the morning we wreck the bed
You bring me coffee black and boiling
Then we start up again and the coffee goes cold
I wake up drinking from your lips
Kisses warm and tender
And I’d give up the word just to see you smile
One things I will never understand (It’s become my problem)
And it’s something that’s right out of my hands (My hands are clean)
What makes such a sweet guy turn so mean?”
Some good Toms, some yawn Toms:
Honey Bee, Tom Petty
Echo, Tom Petty
I Left Some Kisses on the Door, Tom T
Candy in the Window, Tom T
Kiss Me When I Get Back, Tom Tom Club
Innocent Sex Kiss, Tom Tom Club
Kiss Me, Tom Waits
Make it Rain, Tom Waits
The Kiss (Tokyo), Thompson Twins
Come Inside, Thompson Twins
Kiss It (And make it all better) – Dolly Parton
Kiss Me Goodbye – Petula Clark
Two Lips (The Kiss Song) – Petula Clark
Kiss Me Goodnight, Sergeant Major – Arthur Askey
Here’s 3 from Tennessee Ernie Ford
Kiss Me Big
Kissin’ Bug Boogie
Cool, Cool Kisses
Thanks for the Paul Kelly songs, Dave – with other artists like Springsteen, he would have to be among the most-featured in our themed songlists.
Thank you, Rick, for your Toms – your song groupings remain as inventive as ever!
Many thanks, Fisho, for your latest selections – an interesting, eclectic bunch.
Down on the bay: The Move
Sleeping my way to the top: James Reyne
Chains: (I’m familiar with the version by the Beatles).
Thank you, Liam, for your latest three choices. Being a Beatles aficionado, ‘Chains’, which appeared on their debut album, Please Please Me (as you doubtless know), stood out for me the most.
Hot Diggity (Never knew anybody could kiss that away) – Perry Como
Gimme a Little Kiss, Will Ya, Huh – Dean Martin
Happy Thursday KD – looks like I’ll need to fill in a few Dylan ‘kissing’ lyrics:
Seven Days (1979)
‘There’s kissing in the valley
Thieving in the alley,
Fighting every inch of the way.’
This song, written by Dylan, was given to Ron Woods – & he released it on his ‘Gimme Some Neck’ solo album.
No Time To Think – from the 1978 Street Legal album.
‘Memory, ecstasy, tyranny, hypocrisy
Betrayed by a kiss on a cool night of bliss
In the valley of the missing link
And you have no time to think’
Plenty plent more to come……
Thanks, Fisho, for a couple from those classic crooners, Como and Marrtin.
Happy Thursday, Karl. Welcome to the kissing theme! So pleased you and Bob have joined the participants.
The Kinks and bands they inspired:
Predictable, The Kinks (’70s)
That’s Entertainment, The Jam (’80s)
End of the Century, Blur (’90s)
Catapult , Artic Monkeys (2000s)
Sunny Baby, The Kooks (’20s)
Cheers, Rick. Thanks for The Kinks and some of their ‘descendants’.
And while we’re on The Kinks, what about one of their all-time classics for our kissing theme: ‘Lola’?
Little Things Mean a Lot (Throw me a kiss from across the room, say I look nice when I’m not) – Kitty Kallen
Ha, thanks KD, I thought Lola was in your set to introduce the theme, so great pick up.
Now, some Taylor Swift, great songs:
Sad Beautiful Tragic: Kiss me, try to fix it, could you just try to listen?
cardigan: To kiss in cars and downtown bars was all we needed
Blank Space: Stolen kisses, pretty lies
Fearless: It’s the first kiss, it’s flawless, really something, it’s fearless
So High School: Are you gonna marry, kiss, or kill me
Thanks, Fisho, for ‘Little Things Mean a Lot’.
And we’ve reached yet another century of comments! Congratulations to all concerned.
Thank you, Rick, for the Swifty songs.
And, regarding ‘Lola’, it would have to contain the most striking reference to kissing in the history of songs of the rock’n’roll era, wouldn’t it?
Happy Friday KD!
Here a couple more Dylan to add to the list :). The first lyrics would have to be in contention for a podium finish re ‘best heart warming kiss lyrics ever’.
Boots of Spanish Leather (from the 1964 The Times They Are A-Changin’ album)
‘Oh, but if I had the stars from the darkest night
And the diamonds from the deepest ocean
I’d forsake them all for your sweet kiss
For that’s all I’m wishin’ to be ownin’’
To Ramona (from the 1964 Another Side Of Bob Dylan album)
Your cracked country lips
I still wish to kiss
As to be under the strength of your skin
Happy Friday, Karl! Some fine kissin’ lyrics in your latest Dylan duo, especially ‘Boots of Spanish Leather’.
Just thought of another: Ed Sheeran’s ‘Castle on the Hill’ (2017)…’Had my first kiss on a Friday night…’
El Paso (One little kiss and Felina, goodbye) – Marty Robbins
The last one is a song I remember from when I was very young – Ten Pretty Girls (That the boy’s biggest thrill was to steal a kiss. But it don’t mean a thing, playing kiss- in- the ring. ‘Cause you can’t marry ten pretty girls) – Sam Browne.
This song resonates with me as I, like the boy in the song, married the saucy little red head.
On a different highway, I met these guys:
The Cure – Kiss Me (from the 1987 Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me)
‘Kiss me kiss me kiss me
Your tongue is like poison
So swollen it fills up my mouth
Love me love me love me
You nail me to the floor
And push my guts all inside out’
The Cash family:
The Way We Make a Broken Heart, Rosanne Cash
My Least Favourite Life, Rosanne
That Very First Kiss, Carlene Carter
I Fell in Love, Carlene
Lovenworth, Tommy Cash (yes, it’s a cover)
I Said My Nightshirt & Put On My Prayers, June Carter Cash (yes, it’s a Doris Day cover but June makes it her own)
I Couldn’t Keep From Crying, Johnny Cash (yes, it’s a Marty Robbins song)
Orange Blossom Special, JC (on the FPB album he adds a line)
The Last Time, JC (KK song)
If You Don’t Like Hank Williams, JC (brilliant KK song, also done by The Highwaymen)
Oh, What A Dream, JC, his own song
Thanks for ‘El Paso’ and the song and story about the saucy little redhead, Fisho.
Thank you for the Cure song that came from a different highway, Karl.
Thanks for your fine selection of songs from America’s first family of country music, Rick. You’ve given us a great little list of stuff to listen to, here.
Happy ‘Bob Dylan’s 84th birthday’ Saturday KD!
Here’s a couple of on-theme lyrics from my romantically inclined debut 2019 ‘Life & Love’ album.
You Make Me Sing
‘Don’t you feel there’s something more to this
Than handing hands and a goodnight kiss
Don’t you feel that we could move this along
And write – our own love song’
Life & Love
‘You take a tune, put it to your lips
Then sing the song like it’s the sweetest kiss
And I know, life and love should always be like this’
Thanks, Karl, for the two songs from your debut work. I should ‘do myself a favour’ and buy it!
And yes, happy happy birthday to His Bobness.
Here’s a few from Fats Domino
I’ll Always Be In Love With You (Although you find more bliss in someone else’s kiss, I’ll always be in love with you)
What’s the Reason I’m Not Pleasing You? (I may kiss you but then you don’t never say”Kiss me again”)
Shu Rah (So let me kiss you, Shu Rah)
Honey Chile (So hold let kiss for a long, long while)
Not that I am across the new ways of ‘selling’ or ‘buying’ music, but my debut album (don’t wait for a follow up) is available on all good e-music sites. All physical copies (limited 50 copy release) were gifted or sold long ago. You could ‘download’ the album or stream the songs anywhere, anytime. Remember every stream earns me 1/10th of 1c (or less).
Many thanks, Fisho, for your Fats Domino quartet.
Thanks for the details about your debut album, Karl.
Here’s a couple more ffrom Dylan’s canon:
I Don’t Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met) – from 1964 Another Side Of Bib Dylan album
‘Though we kissed through the wild blazing nighttime
She said she would never forget
But now mornin’ is clear
It’s like I ain’t here
She just acts like we never have met’
Love Is Just A Four Letter Word (written- Dylan but recorded – Joan Baez on her 1968 Any Day Now Album
‘After waking enough times to think I see
The holy kiss that’s supposed to last eternity
Blow up in smoke, it’s destiny
Falls on strangers, travels free
Yes, I know now, traps are only set by me
And I do not really need to be assured
That love is just a four-letter word’
Thanks for these latest two Dylan songs, Karl.
An article with a direct focus upon the musical connection between Dylan and Baez would certainly be a highly interesting one (to state the obvious).
Here’s 3 from P J Proby
Hold Me (Thrill me, let your kisses thrill me)
You Don’t Love Me No More (And each kiss seems to say farewell my dear)
Ain’t Gonna Kiss Ya
Hey KD!
Re the Dylan/Baez connection (musical & otherwise) – Baez will be making more than a cameo appearance in my next few Every Song articles.
There are some suggestions that Visions Of Johanna was influenced by her. I absolutely doubt that! It is, perhaps, my favourite Dylan song and contains the following on theme lyric:
‘Now, little boy lost, he takes himself so seriously
He brags of his misery, he likes to live dangerously
And when bringing her name up
He speaks of a farewell kiss to me’
Some The Replacements:
Kiss Me on the Bus (and yes, there’s a intended barely double entendre in the title)
Colour Me Impressed
Get Lost (from their first album which is as raw as punk gets)
AAA (actually a song by the band’s singer and main songwriter, Paul Westerberg – check out his solo stuff it’s shithot)
Lush and Green (another Paul Westerberg song)
A couple more mid 60’s Dylan:
You Go Your Way And I’ll Go Mine
‘You say my kisses aren’t like his
I’m not gonna tell you this time why that is
I’m just gonna let you pass’
Sad Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands
‘The kings of Tyrus, with their convict list
Are waiting in line for their geranium kiss
And you wouldn’t know it would have happened like this
But who among them really wants just to kiss you?’
Thanks for the P J Proby trio, Fisho.
The first thing I think of when it comes to Proby is that he released a single written by Lennon and McCartney, ‘That Means A Lot’, in the mid-sixties.
Thanks for your most recent Dylan material, Karl. Further, I do look forward to your exploration of the Dylan/Baez connection.
A couple more notes: of course I know a bit about ‘Visions of Johanna’, but I do feel it’s a song I need to research and listen to more.
Regarding ‘Sad Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands’, it was a strong influence upon George Harrison writing
‘Long Long Long’, one of my absolute favourite Harrison numbers. (The chord sequence of Lowlands, from memory, was the basic influence.)
Thank you for your Replacements material, Rick. I know from past comments of yours that you are a big fag fan of theirs.
I’m not sure if this has been mentioned yet, but here’s one that just came to mind:
Go all the way, by the Raspberries.
Here’s another couple from the Dylan songbook:
On A Night Like This (1974 – from Planet Waves album)
‘There’s more frost on the window glass
With each new tender kiss
But it sure feels right
On a night like this’
Idiot Wind (1975 – from Blood On The Tracks)
‘I been double-crossed now
For the very last time and now I’m finally free
I kissed goodbye the howling beast
On the borderline which separated you from me’
Thanks for the Raspberries song, Liam. I’ll stick my neck out and, having gone through our kissing songlist numerous times, say that it hasn’t been mentioned yet.
Thank you for your latest Dylan pair, Karl. ‘Idiot Wind’ is now close to my old favourite, ‘Tangled Up In Blue’, as the most ‘multi-themed’ Dylan song. (You know what I mean.)
Returning to this thread after a week away, I will list three songs that are not from genres that I usually visit.
Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend – performed by Marilyn Monroe, written for the stage version of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes by Jule Styne and Leo Robin
“A kiss on the hand
May be quite continental
But diamonds are a girl’s best friend
A kiss may be grand
But it won’t pay the rental
On your humble flat
Or help you at the automat”
Goldfinger – sung by Shirley Bassey, written by John Barry (music) and Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse (lyrics).
“Golden words he will pour in your ear
But his lies can’t disguise what you fear
For a golden girl knows when he’s kissed her
It’s the kiss of death from Mr. Goldfinger”
On The Road to Mandalay – Peter Dawson and a load of other singers between 1907 and 1960.
This song, which was very popular in the first half of the Twentieth Century is based on a poem by Rudyard Kipling. It refers to “Christian Kisses” and “Plucky lot she cared for idols when I kissed her where she stood”
I am not going to quote at length from the song because it is racist, religiously bigoted and colonialist. Frank Sinatra recorded a version in the 1950s with the racism removed and some of the cockney expressions replaced by American slang. According to Wikipedia, Kipling’s daughter was so annoyed by the changed lyrics that she had the song banned from airplay in Britain. She was able to do this because her father’s copyright had not expired.
Hey KD
Here’s a couple of lesser known Dylan lyrics/songs – both outtakes from the 1975 Desire recording sessions..
Abandoned Love (eventually released on 1985 Biograph)
‘We sat in an empty theater and we kissed
I asked ya please to cross me off your list
My head tells me it’s time to make a change
But my heart is telling me I love ya but you’re strange’
Golden Loom (eventually released on The Bootleg Series Vol 1-3: Rare & Unreleased)
‘I see the trembling lion with lotus flower tail
And then, I kiss your lips as I lift your veil
But you’re gone, and then, all I seem to recall is the smell of perfume
And your golden loom’
Thank you, Dave, for your latest – really interesting – trio of selections. One thought (among many) they provoked was that Marilyn Monroe was an good, entertaining vocalist. As you may know, she recorded around thirty songs, mainly for inclusion in her films. I particularly like her numbers from Some Like It Hot (1959), including ‘Running Wild’ and ‘I’m Thru With Love’.
Thanks for ‘Abandoned Love’ and ‘Golden Loom’, Karl. That ‘trembling lion with lotus flower tail’ line is extraordinary!
Shoulda got this one earlier
Still Ill – The Smiths
Under the iron bridge we kissed
And although I ended up with sore lips
It just wasn’t like the old days anymore
No, it wasn’t like those days
Am I still ill?
Thanks, Swish, for this song from an important British musical act.
Good morn KD
I am now scrapping the bottom of my Dylan barrel of lyrics (62-01) {I’ll leave the 21st century to others if they are interested].
Sweetheart Like You (1983 – Infidels album)
‘Just how much abuse will you be able to take?
Well, there’s no way to tell by that first kiss
What’s a sweetheart like you doin’ in a dump like this?’
What Was It You Wanted? (1989 – Oh Mercy album)
‘Was there somebody looking
When you gave me that kiss
Someone there in the shadows
Someone that I might have missed’
Thanks for keeping the Bob train rolling up to the turn of the century, Karl. Let’s see if a replacement driver takes over from there. Cheers.
Some artists punk produced and songs they delivered down the track, well with Television its their first album but anyways:
Silver and Gold, Joe Strummer, which is a cover of Bobby Charles’, Before I Grow Too Old – Bobby of course wrote the song, See You Later, Alligator and Fats Domino originally recorded Too Old and before that they cowrote, Walking to New Orleans (I’m gonna take a trip around the world/I’m gonna kiss all the pretty girls/I’ll do everything silver and gold/And I got to hurry up before I grow too old)
Stone Thames, Big Audio Dynamite take on AIDS, and with a slight tweak it could well be about COVID (Now to sexual relations better take a wife/Now that sex is death, better lead a boring life/No time for social kissing, you’ll hardly raise a smile/When you think what you’ll be missing, iron undies back in style)
Anniversary, Graham Parker – from The Great Macaw, one of his many great albums (You got a sweet kiss, oooh you know I need this/I need everything you have to give me/I need you to live with me/So darlin’ can’t you see, how much I love you on/Our anniversary)
Marquee Moon, Television and if you aint heard this song and album you’ve been living on another planet
but man you’re in for a hell of an audio treat! (Life in the hive puckered up my night/A kiss of death, the embrace of life/Well, there I stand ‘neath the Marquee Moon/Just waiting)
Some fine material for us to listen / re-listen to here, Rick. Thanks so much, for (yet again) enhancing this thread with your input. For me personally, artists like Graham Parker and Big Audio Dynamite transport me back to an exciting past musical age.
Enough of the sublime, try the ridiculous
Save Your Kisses For Me – Brotherhood of Man, 1976 Eurovision Winner no less
Ah yes, Swish – unforgettable! Thanks. And I seem to recall that the ‘surprising’ concluding line to the song was ‘even though you’re only three’…
Here’s a favourite Led Zep song:
That’s The Way (1970 – LZIII)
‘And yesterday I saw you kissing tiny flowers
But all that lives is born to die
And so I say to you that nothing really matter
And all you do is stand and cry’
Mixed with a bit of Joni Mitchell
In France They Kiss On Main Street (1975 – Hissing Of Summer Courts)
‘Young love was kissing under bridges
Kissing in cars kissing in cafes
And we were walking down Main Street
Kisses like bright flags hung on holidays
In France they kiss on Main Street’
Led Zep and Joni Mitchell… it’s not often one sees their names close to each other, but thanks, Karl, for placing them both under the kissing umbrella.
From Joni to BoM, this is a ripper theme. And more from moi.
Terrific bands that sprung from punk’s golden era:
Damaged Goods, Gang of Four, their first single! (Your kiss so sweet/Your sweat so sour/Sometimes I’m thinking that I love you/But I know it’s only lust/The change will do you good/I always knew it would/You know the change will do you good)
Wasted, Pere Ubu, RS describes them as blue collar surrealists and that’s not a bad call (It’s the kiss of the tears stinging and cold/The sum of the years. The story untold/In the heart of our hearts. The heart of the soul/At the heart of the hopes and the fears that we’ve known)
1 2 X U, Wire, from their first and maybe best album, call them punk, post punk, art punk whatever, but defs listen! (Saw you in a mag, kissing a man/Saw you in a mag, kissing a man/Smoking a fag, kissing a man/Saw you in a mag, kissing a man, yeah)
Only You and Your Ghost Will Know, The Mekons, another oddity sprung from the punk era but really another singular focussed band, with great ideas, lyrics, melodies, this song/album is 20+ years after they got going and 20+ years later, they’re still going strong (Only you and your ghost will know/Was there a place to leave or a place to go?/A mouth to kiss or a hand to hold?/Only you and your ghost will know)
Glad this theme is working wonderfully well for you, Rick. What an interesting array of punk material! I’ll listen to it with considerable interest, given that heavier Oz rock was my main musical diet during the punk era and its immediate aftermath.
Some actual folk songs.
Cold, Haily, Windy Night – Steeleye Span
“Let me in,” the soldier cried
Cold, haily, windy night
“Oh, let me in,” the soldier cried
“For I’ll not go back again, no”
Oh, and she’s rose up and she’s let him in
She’s kissed her true love cheek and chin
And she’s drawn him between her sheets again
And she opened and she let him in, oh
Then she has blessed the rainy night
Cold, haily, windy night
Oh, then she has blessed the rainy night
That she opened and she let him in, oh”
Andrew Lammie (also titled Mill o’ Tifty’s Annie) – Traditional Scottish Ballad, first published in 1776.
I first heard it on an album by the English folk singer Martin Simpson but well before his version it had been recorded by loads of singers including The Boys of the Lough, Jean Redpath and Ewan MacColl. It is a very long ballad about love thwarted by class. Here are three verses from over 50.
He called me mistress, I said no,
I’m Tifty’s bonnie Annie;
With apples sweet he did me treat,
And kisses soft and many.
It’s up and down in Tifty’s glen,
Where the burn rins clear and bonnie
I’ve often gane to meet meet my love,
My bonnie Andrew Lammie.
But now alas! her father heard
That the trumpeter of Fyvie,
Had had the art to gain the heart
Of Mill of Tifty’s Annie.
Mouth Music _Jean Redpath
(The title Mouth Music refers to the opening lines which are in Gaelic, The verses, at least on Redpath’s record, are in English)
“Oh, the lad that cannae kiss a lass is no the las for me,
For my ain bonny laddie’s kissed twa three”
Morning KD
I was too lazy to check back and see if:
Roberta Flack – The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face
‘And the first time, ever I kissed your mouth
I felt the earth move in my hand
Like the trembling heart
Of a captive bird’
….had appeared earlier
But I am 100% certain that the following gets its first outing in the theme::
Rodriguez – I Think Of You
‘Just a song we shared, I’ll hear
Brings memories back when you were here
Of your smile, your easy laughter
Of your kiss, those moments after
I think of you’
Karl, Check my first post on this thread. Cheers, Dave
Thank you, Dave, for your folk material; as usual, I love the kind of choices made, the quoted lyrics and the interesting knowledge brought to our ‘table’.
Thanks for your latest material, Karl – always good to see a Rodriguez song on our thematic songlist. (Obviously you saw Dave’s note.)
Pre punk which is kinda still punk:
Give Her a Big Kiss, New York Dolls (a cover of The Shangri-Las song, and the guy who wrote this song and leader of the Pack also produced Iron Butterfly’s magnum opus)
Gimme Danger, The Stooges (There’s nothing in my dreams/Just some ugly memories/Kiss me like the ocean breeze)
Vanishing Act, Lou Reed (How nice it is to disappear/Float into a mist/With a young lady on your arm/Looking for a kiss)
Kissin’ Dynamite, AC/DC (okay, ACDC aren’t strictly punk but they were something else)
Love the punk / quasi punk sub-theme you’ve developed in recent comments, Rick. It’s particularly interesting when mixed with our overall kissing theme.
How ’bout a little Love Shack……
‘Huggin’ and a kissin’, dancin’ and a lovin’
Wearin’ next to nothing, ’cause it’s hot as an oven’
Apologies for double dipping on The First Time I Ever Saw Your Face
We are now over the 150 mark and a double dip here & there is inevitable…..
Thanks, Karl, for ‘Love Shack’. An interesting question is how to best classify this song…novelty number? Pop tune? Rock song? Eclectic mix? Off the top of my head, is there some cowbell in this number (apropos of a previous Almanac song theme)?
And yep, the longer one of our song theme threads goes, the more likely that some doubling up of particular songs will occur, as we regular contributors know.
Happy Sunday Morning Coming Down KD
I’d classify ‘Love Shack’ as Dance Rock – and yes, it is definitely an exemplar of the use of cowbells.
I’ve been surprised that a word like ‘kiss/kissing’ can be absent (or very hard to find) from the songs of some of the longstanding greatest songwriters of our time (eg Neil Young, Lou Reed) – or maybe I am looking in all the wrong places.
I was happy to recall this one:
Neil Simon – Fifty Ways To Leave Your Lover
‘She said, “Why don’t we both just sleep on it tonight
And I believe in the morning, you’ll begin to see the light”
And then she kissed me, and I realized she probably was right
There must be fifty ways to leave your lover’
Happy Sunday, Karl! Sunday Morning is Coming Down with a good degree of mildness, even if a few refreshing ales and a glass of thirty-year old Old Vines Langhorne Creek Shiraz were consumed last night.
‘Dance Rock’ sounds like a highly apt description for the cowbell-infused ‘Love Shack’.
And yes, I believe you’re right about the absence of kissing references in the work of some of the greatest songwriters of recent decades – a similar thought had crossed my mind.
Thanks for ‘Fifty Ways to Leave Your Lover’, too – a really good pickup.
Melissa Etheridge – Like The Way I Do (1988)
‘Does she stimulate you?
Attract and captivate you?
Tell me, does she miss you?
Existing just to kiss you?
Like the way I do?’
Thanks for your Melissa Etheridge song, Karl – we haven’t listed many of her numbers in our theme-related songlists.
Several different female singers singing various styles of songs.
First Born – Kate and Anna McGarrigle
“That first born son is always the one
The first to be called and the last to come
He’s his mother’s favorite, his grandmother’s too
He’ll break their hearts and he’ll break yours too
For he’s the first to creep and the first to crawl
The first to walk and the first to fall
Every bruise is kissed, every cry is heard
Every doubt’s cast out with a soothing word
‘Cause he’s that first born son, he’s that special one
No matter what comes next, no matter what comes along
Be it another boy or a sweet baby girl
The family’s the oyster and he is the pearl”
(This may well be a song about Rufus Wainwright who was Kate’s first born)
Dance On – Kathy Kelly (An instrumental hit for The Shadows in 1962 which had lyrics added a few months later by Marcel Stellman and was a hit for Kathy Kelly)
“Don’t try and kiss me now, dance on
You might be feeling quite romantic
But I’ll dance cheek to cheek
Or we’ll miss every beat
Just dance on
Give me the sweet talk when we?re leaving
From midnight on it?s worth believing”
Our Town – Iris DeMent
“And you know the sun’s settin’ fast
And just like they say, nothing good ever lasts
Well, go on now and kiss it goodbye
But hold on to your lover ’cause your heart’s bound to die
Go on now and say goodbye to our town, to our town
Can’t you see the sun’s settin’ down on our town, on our town?
Goodnight
I’ll Never Fall In Love Again – Dionne Warwick (written by Hal David and Burt Bacharach)
“What do you get when you kiss a guy?
You get enough germs to catch pneumonia
After you do, he’ll never phone ya
I’ll never fall in love again
Don’t you know that I’ll never fall in love again.”
(I love rhyming pneumonia with phone ya)
I Honestly Love You – Olivia Newton John (written by Jeff Barry and Peter Allen)
“If we both were born in another place in time
This moment might be ending with a kiss
There you are with yours and here I am with mine
So, I guess, we’ll just be leaving it at this
I love you
I honestly love you
I honestly love you”
Kiss Me Honey, Honey Kiss Me – Shirley Bassey
Oh and a message for Dave Nadel. It was Kathy KIRBY not Kelly that sang Dance On (one of my favourites).
Whoops!!. You are quite right Fisho. I knew that. I have known that since I first heard Kathy Kirby’s version in 1963 and further more I would have read her name last night when I researched who wrote the lyrics to The Shadows’ instrumental. I must have been tireder than I thought last night.
I have accepted Karl’s offer to add His Bobness 21C songs to this theme.
Starting with Love and Theft, Dylan has had a stunning return to his best, after a patchy era that lasted 20 years, from around 1976 to 1997.
I have three songs to offer, with two from Rough and Rowdy Ways and one from Tempest.
Narrow Way, Dylan has released better god themed songs across his career than the 3 god albums he cranked out in the late 70s-early 80s and this is one of them. He draws on the bible for imagery and focus (and to balance the sacred/profane juxtapositions that drive this song) but his brilliance is to cross pollinate such referents with other surprising historical references, such as the Mississippi Sheiks’ song (Dylan lifts a title from one of their songs for his chorus in Narrow Way) and the 18th century hymnist, Anne Steele, who’s poem is cited here (Look down, angel from the skies/Help my weary soul to rise/I kissed her cheek, I dragged your plow/You broke my heart, I was your friend ’til now)
Crossing the Rubicon, well I don’t know where to start on this magnificent song, other than to note that there is no other songwriter, not even Lenny Cohen who can so masterfully, (and effortlessly) through intertextual references weave together Caesar, Christ, the Roman poet Lucan, the Howard Hawks movie and another song by Dylan (Red River Shore) to try to get inside the mind and spirit of the artist/outsider’s individuality, creativity and the fine line between the personal and political. And this is just Dylan musing on himself. (Three miles north of purgatory/One step from the great beyond/I prayed to the cross, I kissed the girls/And I crossed the Rubicon)
Key West (Philosopher Pirate) – this whole damn album is about mortality, and its explorations and insights are more profound and grounded than TooM could dream to be. In this song, Bob offers a sliver of hope for immortality, or at least an afterlife (if you can get to Key West). This is Dylan on Dylan, acknowledging a range of great writers, poets, singers and philosophers he has read and admired. His singing and the song’s arrangement are reflective, confessional, dreamlike and soothing, while the list of songs referenced and used is Dylan honouring the power of song as prayer for his redemption and immortality. (I play both sides against the middle/Trying to pick up that pirate radio signal/I heard the news, I heard your last request/Fly around, my pretty little Miss/I don’t love nobody, give me a kiss/Down on the bottom, way down in Key West)
Thanks, Dave, for your most recent comments and song choices – wonderful stuff! (Short note: as is the case with you, that pneumonia and phone ya rythme is a joy to behold.)
Thank you, Fisho, for the Bassey song.
Thanks so much, Rick, for taking a shift as the engineer on the ‘Bob Train’. I loved the detailed analysis of the songs chosen.
One of country music’s best songwriters and not a bad singer, Lori McKenna (part Joni, part Lucinda, part Springsteen – when he gets reflective, and a dob of Tom T):
Stealing Kisses (I was stealing kisses from a boy/Now I’m begging affection from a man/In my housedress don’t you know who I am?/Don’t you know who I am?/Standing in your kitchen)
Witness to Your Life (Someone was crying and the bells rang/Then I don’t remember a thing/You were talking, but the words came/From somebody else/Someone said “kiss her” and so you did/I was smilin’ like a little kid/You kissed my teeth and then we both hid/Inside each other’s arms)
Stranger in His Kiss (There’s a stranger in his kiss/Tastes like made up stories, stolen moments, and cigarettes/That secret on his lips/Seems so familiar, so I’m wondering this:/Could a friend like you be the stranger in his kiss?)
Good Fight (You sat on the front porch step/Too angry to go to bed/Spinnin’ the last three?beers,?that we had?left in the fridge/Don’t try to?kiss me yet/’Cause I ain’t over it/Whatever you do, don’t make me laugh/’Cause you ain’t gonna win/Then your knee touches mine/And I can’t help but smile)
One Kiss Goodnight (Once you saw the sun following me/You knew I’d never be the one to fulfill your prophecy/How dare I love you, what gives me the right/Baby give me one kiss goodnight…)
Happy Wednesday KD!
Dave N’s ‘I’ll Never Fall In Love Again’ gets my ‘I Wish I Had Thought Of That Lyric’ award. And yes, the ‘pneumonia and phone ya’ rhyme is extraordinary.
A song that popped into my head from artists who rarely get a mention in these themes is:
Do That To Me One More Time – The Captain & Tennille
‘Oh, kiss me like you just did
Oh baby
Do that to me once again’
Here’s a few from one of my favourites, Johnny Tillitson
I’m Never Gonna Kiss You
What’ll I Do (Who’s kissing you, what’ll I do)
Judy Judy Judy (Judy’s got the lips I love to kiss)
Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye (Kiss me every morning for a million years)
Johnny also had a version of Sealed With a Kiss
And then there’s these from Gene Pitney
Half Heaven, Half Heartache (My arms reach out for you, I kiss you tenderly)
I Must Be Seeing Things (Looking through a tear I can see him kissing you)
It Hurts To Be in Love (How long can I exist, wanting lips I’ve never kissed)
How about these three from Rosemary Clooney
Who Kissed Me Last Night?
Kiss Him For Me
The Continental (You Kiss While You’re Dancing)
The Triffids don’t mind a bit of kissin’:
Hometown Farewell Kiss (Higher, let the flames grow higher/Erase my name from your lips as we kiss/Higher, let the flames grow higher/Now there’s one soul less on your fiery list)
New Year’s Greeting (I send you a New Year’s Kiss/And I hope you will remember me like this)
Jesus Calling (I have Jesus calling me/Blood on my thighs and milk on my knees/Sign out front says vacancies/There is a bed we can fill/But there ain’t a kiss or a caress that don’t make me ill/Yes it makes me ill, it’s a pleasure, etc)
Unmade Love (Let me sleep a little longer/Pray that in the morning I may wake a little stronger/I didn’t think it would ever come to this/Your fingers that I counted on and kissed/Your body that once wrapped around me/Like a mist)
Not the Marrying Kind (I can take you any place that you wish/Buy you foreign wine any fancy dish/But when the night is through, hey baby me and you/Are going to say goodbye with just one parting kiss/It should be plain to see I can`t take those vows that bind/You`re not the girl for me and I`m, I`m not the marrying kind)
More 21C His Bobness:
Po’ Boy (All I know is that I’m thrilled by your kiss/I don’t know any more than this/Poor boy, pickin’ up sticks/Build ya a house out of mortar and bricks)
Tell Ol’ Bill – there is a huge and complex story about this song that is worth exploring on the interwebbything but for now, appreciate that it is one of three or four songs Dylan wrote between L&T and MT, all four songs were for movies, this song is one of his best tunes (You trampled on me as you passed/Left the coldest kiss upon my brow/All of my doubts and fears have gone at last/I’ve nothing more to tell you now)
Huck’s Tune, another song for a film, another great Dylan love song (My plate and my cup are right straight up/I took a rose from the hand of a child/When I kiss your lips, the honey drips/But I’m gonna have to put you down for a while)
The Lonesome River – technically from the 1998 Ralph Stanley album, Clinch Mountain Country (which is a must listen by the way), but my loophole is that it appears on the Dylan Bootleg Vol. 8 release that came out in 2008. (Oh, the water rolls high on the river at midnight/I sit on the shore to grieve and to cry/The woman I love she left me this morning/With no one to love or kiss me goodnight)
All or Nothing at All, which is an old Sinatra song, recorded by Dylan for his Fallen Angels album (But please, don’t bring your lips so close to my cheek/Don’t you smile or I’ll be lost beyond recall/The kiss in your eyes, the touch of your hand makes me weak/And my heart may go dizzy and fall)
Wonderful recent material Rick, Fisho and Karl – so good, in fact, that I feel like giving you all a warm masculine handshake (as opposed to a kiss!)
Our kissing theme is indeed the kiss that keeps on kissing!
One of the best Australian songs of the early 1970s
Winter in America (Leave Love Enough Alone) – Doug Ashdown
“[Verse 1]
The harbour’s misty in the morning, love!
Oh! How I miss December
The Frangipani opens up to kiss the salty air
I know you’re getting ready for the office
I suppose he’s still there with you
Sharing our morning sun
[Chorus]
Winter in America is cold
And I just keep growing older
I wish I could have known
Enough of love to leave love enough alone”
Aussie choice cuts, first two songs are by the Mentals, next two, You Am I and the last two are by Amyl and the Sniffers:
Drinking of her Lips, (There was a man/There? was a woman/They were standing out alone/Underneath the moon /Drinking of her lips/Singing? as they kiss)
We Get to Kiss
Pinpricks (I wanna kiss, I wanna kiss, I wanna kiss her ’cause she smiles like David Johannsen/I can’t get over her face, and her Cheshire cat grace, wears high heels just to go dancin’)
Berlin Chair (I’ll ignore each golden, draggin’ kiss you can give/On the blankest face that you ever had to forgive)
Don’t Need a Cunt (like You to Love Me) – (I’m a business woman, run my own company/Don’t need to kiss arse, my success speaks for me)
Westgate (‘Cause I can’t text ya and I cant call ya/But I can think about you/And I can’t kiss ya and I can’t fuck ya/But I can think about you)
Thanks Dave and Rick for your latest fine contributions . For the most part, I’ve been away from online work over the past week due to pressing family stuff. Hope to resume ‘normal transmission’ very soon.